April 6, 2016, - 6:39 pm
Merle Haggard: No Tears for Anti-War, Anti-Troops Leftist Obama Fan; Buh-bye – UPDATED
*** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE: Haggard attacked “extremist” fans of Middle American values and said he was sorry he wrote “Okie From Muskogee” because of that. ***
No tears from me over Merle Haggard, the legendary country singer who died today of pneumonia at age 79. Haggard was a punkass criminal (literally) who spent his life in anti-war attacks on America and then rushed to the defense of Barack Obama.
It’s a commonly believed myth in America that country music artists–particularly the older ones–are conservative patriots. In fact, in many cases, they are not. See Willie Nelson. And see the late Mr. Haggard (friend of Willie). The “Okie From Muskogee” was one of the most successful country music artists of all time and one of the most well known “pioneers” of the depressing genre of music and song, with at least three dozen #1 country music chart hits in almost six decades. He was a White House guest of both Presidents Nixon and Reagan, so it’s easy to assume he leaned right. Not so.
Haggard wrote, recorded, and released anti-war song “America First,” when our troops were getting blown up in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2005. And he did something similar when the same thing was happening to our servicemen in Vietnam. He also defended the anti-war Dixie Chicks. Whether or not you think the Iraq War (and the one in Afghanistan) was a mistake (I do), is not the point. The point is that it’s disgusting to put out musical “spit” on our troops while they are overseas and at war. Even more disgusting is to pretend that you support the troops (as Haggard did) while doing so, when what you are doing does NOT support the troops. It demoralizes them and costs lives, limbs, and minds.
A lifelong alcoholic and drug addict, Haggard, who was married five times, spent his younger years as a serial criminal. He was convicted of armed robbery and served several years time in San Quentin State Prison.
In defending the Dixie Chicks’ shrill anti-war diatribes, Haggard cast himself as a defender of the First Amendment. But he was extremely selective in his belief in free speech rights. In fact, Haggard loudly attacked critics of President Obama and wanted them to be quiet. He called it “criminal” to attack Obama. In a 2010 interview with Rolling Stone, Haggard said,
It’s really almost criminal what they do with our President. There seems to be no shame or anything. They call him all kinds of names all day long, saying he’s doing certain things that he’s not. It’s just a big old political game that I don’t want to be part of. There are people spending their lives putting him down. I’m sure some of it’s true and some of it’s not. I was very surprised to find the man very humble and he had a nice handshake. His wife was very cordial to the guests and especially me. They made a special effort to make me feel welcome. It was not at all the way the media described him to be. . . .
He’s not conceited. He’s very humble about being the President of the United States, especially in comparison to some presidents we’ve had who come across like they don’t need anybody’s help. I think he knows he’s in over his head. Anybody with any sense who takes that job and thinks they can handle it must be an idiot.
”
And idiocy and country music apparently aren’t mutually exclusive either. Thanks for the tip, Merle. It’s no wonder that Barack Obama chose to give the guy a “Lifetime Achievement” honor at the Kennedy Center.
I think Haggard is one of the most overrated singers in history. And now he’s one of the most dead overrated singers in history. Buh-bye.
So, he claimed to be the down home “Okie From Muskogie” but lived a pretty luxe, indulgent celebrity life. I think I’ll write my own country song to commemorate all the miserable, faux-patriotic country stars who pretend they have back home bonhomie but really have the politics of the Clintons. I think I’ll call it . . .
Schmucky From Kentucky.
***
**** UPDATE, 04/07/16: Merle Haggard was best known for his biggest hit, “Okie From Muskogee” but was sorry he wrote it because he grew to hate its conservative fans and the values the song extolled. He told two different stories about why he wrote it. He once said he wrote it as a joke, to mock country music’s Middle American fans during the Vietnam War. But he’s also said he originally wrote it because he was upset, during the Vietnam War, at all of the hippies in the streets protesting American soldiers who were over there. Apparently, the guy couldn’t get his stories straight.
Regardless, he later said he changed his mind about Vietnam war protesters. Haggard said we should forgive the anti-war hippies, while he, instead, cast his disdain on the fans of the Middle American values the song praised–calling them “extrem[ists].” In fact, he was so down on the mainstream, small town American fans of that song that Haggard wished he “hadn’t written ‘Okie’.”
1969:
During a tour of the US, as the band was passing through Oklahoma on Interstate 40, Merle Haggard spotted a sign saying, “Muskogee, 19 miles.” He woke up his drummer Roy Edward Burris and joked that he bet they didn’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee. This started a jokey conversation among the band about other activities that might be frowned on in a sleepy town – and Haggard knew the territory because his family was from Checotah, Oklahoma, near Muskogee – and what it meant in the context of the Vietnam War. . . .
1970:
“Haggard has tapped, perhaps for the first time in popular music, into a vast reservoir of resentment against the long-haired young and their underground society.” Haggard tells a reporter that Okie from Muskogee started out as a joke, saying: “We wrote it to be satirical originally. But then people latched on to it, and it really turned into this song that looked into the mindset of people so opposite of who and where we were. . . .”
1990 to reporter Bryan Di Salvatore of Ornery magazine:
“Sometimes I wish I hadn’t written Okie. Not that I’m ashamed of it. I’m not sure but what bothers me most is the people that identify with it. There is the extremity out there.”
Yup, country music fans who made this drunken criminal bum rich beyond his wildest dreams “bother him most” and are “extremists.”
Again, thanks for the tip, Merle. And don’t let the worldly door hit ya on the way out.
Merle
less than educated
criminal life-long drunk
To be remembered for what ?
I’m proud to be an Obi-Wan-Kenobi
is a ” catchy ” tune.
So what ?
I don’t think he deserves the derision of HANOI JANE
But he deserves something close to it.
JayPee on April 6, 2016 at 6:56 pm